Chef's Knife by Coltellerie Berti

This one is over the top. Just for kicks, I played around with this knife during the photo shoot for my new book last summer. That's one of the fun things about a photo shoot that has a big room of props; you can use them all. So for a few days, I diced, chopped and minced all matter of fauna and flora with this excessively expensive and astoundingly beautiful knife.

Its weight will melt a melon into two halves. It also happens to be handmade in Italy by a family-owned company who know what they're doing with blades. Surely, it's for when you hit the lottery, but should that happen to you, lucky friend, here's a fun little splurge.

The knife comes with several different handle options. The lucite (white, red and black) are the least expensive. Prices go up from there for the Oxhorn. Each knife is made by a single craftsman.

Sara Kate is the founding editor of The Kitchn. She co-founded the site in 2005 and has since written three cookbooks. She is most recently the co-author of The Kitchn Cookbook, to be published in October 2014 by Clarkson Potter.